A flash of brilliant color forced my eyes from the perfection of my mate. In the garden beyond the circular courtyard, women were using fans to battle the afternoon heat. Swallowing past the need to rip their spines out from their mouth, I watched one rise from her seat. Slowly, she ambled closer to the men without a care for the deadly swords they were using. Grinding my teeth as she paused next to the younger men, she dropped a canary-yellow cloth on purpose.
At the same moment she’d dropped it, Knox disarmed both men in a calculated, skilled move of swordsmanship. The woman, who was even now moving closer as she waited for Knox to retrieve her swath of fabric, toyed with the bodice of her gown. My teeth sank into my lip as my back twitched and my nails pushed through the flesh of my fingertips.
Knox bent to retrieve the scrap of fabric, giving the woman’s greedy eyes a chance to devour the sight of his shirtless chest. Instead of holding his hand out, he turned to say something to one of the men, and the woman stepped closer to him. My heart clenched as I stepped back, allowing the shadows to swallow my presence. When he turned back, her palm reached for his chest, but Knox stepped back from her.
The woman didn’t take the hint. Instead, she smiled enticingly as he lowered his head. My mind whirled with suspicion as I wondered if he was staring at the cleavage the bodice of her gown put on display. Nausea churned in the pit of my abdomen as I felt the floor crumbling at my feet. Her hand snaked up, running over my guy’s chest.
“Step away from the king, Fay,” Killian snapped, which forced her eyes to flash with anger. “I won’t ask you again. When the king tells you to step back? You fucking do as he commands. King Karnavious isn’t interested in the flesh you’re peddling here. Now, step the fuck back.”
Fay, who I was guessing was a courtesan, didn’t appear to care about Killian’s warning. Her hand remained on Knox’s chest, which forced a rattle to rip from my throat. Knox’s head swung toward the palace in which I stood, creeping up the side of the tower until his gaze clashed with mine. The moment our eyes locked, the world fell away. Silence enveloped us as only we existed within the surrounding space.
It was what told me he wasn’t just a man I enjoyed being around. It created an entire storm within my body. It rolled through me in violent waves, as if he was a hurricane sweeping over my shores, battering anything in its forceful, destructiveness as he made landfall. My nipples pebbled. Heat unfurled in my abdomen, and then flowed to a pulse located in my clit. I felt my spine arch with a gentle curve as if every part of me belonged to him, and him alone.
Stepping into the sunlight, I continued rattling in warning. It grew louder until the woman’s focus settled on me as well. She retreated, showing she had at least two brain cells in her head. The sugary tang of her fear carried to me on the gentle breeze, enticing to the beast within me who wanted her blood for touching what belonged to us. The smile on Knox’s lips caused everything inside me to grow taut with lustful need. A smile played on my lips as my palms braced on the wooden railing of the balcony. Knox sauntered toward me, which sent my need, fear, and anticipation to new heights. The combination was heady, yet undeniably erotic as I followed him until he vanished beneath the balcony railing.
Losing sight of him caused my heart to ache. I’d enjoyed drinking in the hard muscular body that was tense from straining from defending against the men trying to disarm him. Covered in a fine sheen of sweat, it had fucking glistened beneath the suns warm, heated rays.
Knox without a shirt on was criminal. His entire body was deliciously hard edges, smooth lines, and inked to utter perfection that I could stare at day in and day out for the rest of my existence. Hell, I didn’t blame Fay for trying to lure him between her thighs. If I were her, I’d want that man too. Only, he was mine, and if she thought she’d take him from me, she was wrong. Dead wrong. Because that was what she’d be if she touched him again.
The woman had slithered back to her group on the edge of the garden, and I doubted she knew how lucky she was that Knox hadn’t responded to what she’d been offering him. My attention slid to Brander, who offered a wave with a boyish grin on his kissable lips. Killian, being Killian, confidently folded his arms over his amply muscled chest, nodding a silent ‘hello’。 A bevy of shirtless men sat in front of Greer, listening intently to whatever he was currently telling them with wonder stamped on their faces.
“Fucking hussy,” I whispered, which caused Greer’s head to lift.
“Peasant, so nice of you to call upon our king,” he shouted before a genuine happiness filled his eyes. “I hope you shan’t be too long away from us?”
My smile faltered at his choice of words, but the sound of scraping below distracted me from pondering it. When I looked down to see what was causing it, my jaw dropped. Knox was scaling the tower. Fear shot through me as the man literally scaled the tower to reach me.
“What the hell are you thinking? You can’t climb the damn tower, Knox!” I demanded in horror. “Are you insane?”
“Not at all, Little Monster,” he called up in a raspy tone of pure lust that enveloped me like a blanket. “It isn’t the first time I’ve scaled one to reach what I want. Is it?” His eyes sparkled with humor at the horror stamped on my face.
“Brander? Have you not told your brother that he shouldn’t be scaling fucking walls? He’s the king!” I shouted.
Brander shrugged indifferently before calling back, “He’s the king, Aria. No one tells a king what he shouldn’t do. Besides, it would only encourage him to do it more.”
Knox’s hands landed beside mine seconds before he leaped over the railing. I yelped as his palm connected to my throat, jerking me into the hardness of his frame. Butterflies erupted in a kaleidoscope of movement when his flesh pressed against mine. Then he forced my head back, smiling like a predator who’d captured his prey.
“Fucking hell, you’re beautiful, Aria. Here I thought I was imagining the sound of your pretty rattle at first. But then, I caught your lovely scent on the breeze,” he rasped even as he forced me to walk backward into the chamber. “Why the fuck do I smell another male on you?”
“Knox,” I whispered as an uneasiness washed through me.
“Aria?” he growled as his hand tightened on my throat. “Is there another man?”
“No one would ever be you, Knox,” I replied as honestly as I could.
“That didn’t answer my fucking question.”
“I’ve not been with anyone else. No other man has ever had me, except you.” His mouth crushed against mine in an earth-shattering kiss of possession. Knox’s fingers tightened on my jawline, forcing me to open to his deliciously brutal assault. With his kiss, Knox claimed ownership of more than just my mouth. He claimed my fucking soul.
Knox destroyed any resolve I might’ve had. The man was a storm that battered against my defenses and forced them to break into tiny shattered pieces. His other hand slid down my back to cup my ass before he lifted me as if I weighed nothing at all. I slid my tongue against his as a lusty moan bubbled from my lungs, only to be captured by his starving lips.
The moment Knox pulled away, he rattled until my spine arched. Sliding my fingers through his silky strands, I whimpered at the feel of his thick cock rubbing against my center. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself a moment to just feel the utter domination he held over my senses.